Comparison

iKnow! vs Kanji Encounter

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

iKnow!

Master Japanese, Chinese, and English with this app's adaptive learning engine. It offers multiple study modes and synchronizes your progress across devices for flexible learning. Ideal for anyone looking to efficiently acquire new vocabulary and sentence structures.

Highlights
  • Adaptive learning engine
  • Spaced rehearsal pattern
  • Five study modes
  • Vocabulary and sentence mastery
  • Progress synchronization
  • Audio playback with speed control
Features
Read full description

Enjoy the iKnow! experience on your phone or tablet! All your iKnow! study progress is automatically synched across devices, so you can study in the way that best matches your needs and lifestyle. “Japanese, Chinese, and English” Official courses are offered for studying Japanese, Chinese, and SAT English. The Japanese courses cover the 6,000 most commonly used words in Japanese. The Chinese courses cover the 2,000 most commonly used words in spoken Chinese and over 1,200 words commonly used in newspapers and magazines. (All Chinese courses are available in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.) All words have sample sentences and audio. “The iKnow! Learning Engine” iKnow! presents items in a spaced rehearsal pattern optimized for efficient learning. iKnow! adapts to differences in learning speeds and item difficulty, constantly measuring memory and predicting performance across all of your items. iKnow! does this by tracking your performance and then predicting your optimal review time on an item-by-item basis. All you have to do is push the study button, and iKnow! tells you what to learn. ************** Features: - Five study modes: iKnow!, Rapid Choice, Self Check, Sentence Trainer, and Listening. - iKnow!: Master words and phrases with our patented learning algorithms. - Rapid Choice: Fast-paced quizzing and review. - Self Check: Judge yourself on what you know and how well. - Sentence Trainer: Master sentence patterns by listening and then dictating. - Listening: Listen to content on the go. You can slow down and loop any audio. - Study progress synched across supported devices.

About

Kanji Encounter

Features
Read full description

Kanji Encounter teaches the first fifty kanji the way you actually meet them: inside a conversation. Mia has just arrived at her host grandmother's house in Japan. Sora the cat is asleep in a basket. Every lesson is a short exchange between the three of them, and somewhere in it sits a character you have not met before — with furigana above it, an English line below, and romaji if you want it. Then it comes back. Days later, the same kanji turns up inside a different word, and its reading has changed. "日" becomes "日曜日". "時" and "間" become "時間". The app stops and shows you what just happened, because that moment makes kanji feel like meaning rather than shapes. WHAT A DAY LOOKS LIKE - Learning 3 new kanji is your daily goal — once you hit it, you can keep learning a few more at a time. - Reviews return on their own schedule, spacing out as you get them right. - A short guess after a lesson — can you read this? It never counts against you. - Every character you have met grows a tree of the words it appears in. FIFTY KANJI, FIFTY PICTURES Each character has its own watercolour illustration, drawn for this app. WHAT IS NOT HERE - No account. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to remember. - No ads, no tracking. - No backend of ours. The only network traffic is the subscription check. FREE AND PAID Chapter one — ten kanji, ten conversations — is free. Chapters two to four unlock with Full Access. SUBSCRIPTION Full Access, USD 2.99 per month, auto-renewing until cancelled. Cancel anytime in the App Store. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://asab0o.github.io/learning-kanji-mobile-app/privacy

Screenshots

iKnow!4 screens
Kanji Encounter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Kanji Encounter at every 5 days against iKnow!'s every 5 weeks. iKnow!'s advantage is device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.4). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. iKnow! sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Kanji Encounter sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iKnow! ships an update every 5 weeks, Kanji Encounter every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
iKnow! versus Kanji Encounter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriKnow!Kanji Encounter
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (491 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings491 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDMM.com LLCAsaka Ouchi

Bugs and requests

iKnow!

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes on startup
  • Blank screens during multiple-choice questions
  • Issues with typing answers and registering input
  • Audio not playing for some example sentences

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add more languages beyond Japanese and Chinese
  • Improve community course integration
  • Implement a dark mode
  • Add more example sentences per word
  • Provide an option to learn without kanji
Show 2 more
  • Implement a notification system for review reminders
  • Add grammar drills and kanji writing practice

Kanji Encounter

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

iKnow!

One-time10
  • 3 Month Plan$23.99
  • 12 Month Plan$39.99
  • 12+1 Month Plan$39.99
Show 7 more
  • 6 Month Plan$47.99
  • 6+1 Month Plan$47.99
  • 12+3 Month Plan$54.99
  • 12 Month Plan$59.99
  • 12 Month Plan$64.99
  • 12+1 Month Plan$64.99
  • 12 Month Plan$69.99
1 purchases

Kanji Encounter

Subscriptions1
  • Full Access$2.991 Month

Questions

Is iKnow! free?
iKnow! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Kanji Encounter free?
Kanji Encounter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do iKnow! or Kanji Encounter have ads?
Neither iKnow! nor Kanji Encounter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iKnow! or Kanji Encounter?
iKnow! ships an update every 5 weeks, and Kanji Encounter every 5 days. Most recently, iKnow! was updated on November 1, 2026 and Kanji Encounter on September 28, 2026.

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